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The Stargazers: Cursed (2)
thumb|700pxOnce upon a time there was a small city in Eledus called Exup which relied on its diviners, especially its astrologers. When suddenly the night is replaced by an eternal summer day none can tell the future anymore. Two people are found guilty: John, the only astronomer of Exup and Harald, the head of the astrologers. Together they must find a way to bring back the night and clean their names. Too many stairs Somehow the stubbornness of Exup’s only astronomer had twisted fate just enough to have an observatory built on the town hall. Some would call it a miracle of psychics as the building seem to laugh at the laws of gravity and the basics of construction. The town hall itself was a large two story building. It was the usual gathering place for when creatures felt the need to…yeah…gather. That included the shepherd and his stock. Not many houses in Exup could hold a meeting for more than twenty people or keep thirty sheep dry. So town hall it was. The building itself was also the home of mayor Midas, the heads of the different divining departments, their families and John. The observatory was built on top of this all. You had the dome on the roof with the planetarium. Glued to it you had a tall tower and on top of it you had another dome with the telescope. If we ignore the details of the extra weight on the roof of the town hall, there was still that flower like construction which should have come down years ago. Well, it hadn’t. It just hadn’t. Asking John about this would result in his absolute denial of the possibility. The planetarium was run by Eva, Midas’ wife and open for public. It was mostly the notorious behaviour of John which kept the people away and he knew it. The more surprised he was when Harald was standing on his doorstep with all his astrological stuff, lunch for two (dinner for most people) and a big bottle with good booze in the middle of the night. It was clearly he wanted to use the observatory, but it was his state of being John slightly worried about. ‘Long day?’ John asked while letting the astrologer in. ‘Horrible day. That crazy merchant betted all his money on some cargo I saw in the stars. Turned out it was the cargo he should not have taken, so now he’s bankrupt. Not my problem. I stated clearly that divinations are guides, not guarantees. Even have that black on white.’ ‘Suddenly I like my work a lot more,’ John said. Harald followed him to the telescope upstairs. Way too upstairs. He should have left some of his books at home. John surely had the same books here. When they arrived in the upper dome the astronomer started to get the telescope in position to get some accurate positions of the celestial bodies and the astrologers made some space on the desk to do his calculations. Suddenly they heard a shriek followed by a rain of broken glass and the sound of metal being crunched. The wind blew them of the tower, making them fall many meters (and scream like girls) before they landed in the lake. ‘My observatory,’ John said in disbelief when he saw the upper dome completely destroyed. A bright flash of light blinded them for a few seconds. When they could finally open their eyes it was like they were in broad daylight. The coolness of the night had also disappeared. This had become a hot summer day. ‘What happened?’ Midas asked ‘Magic,’ John said darkly as he saw something on the dome radiating with light. ‘Someone has put a curse upon us.’ "I'm your astrologer, not your coffee suplier." ‘So it was a skull I saw in the cup. Not a smiley,’ Harald mumbled while they got out of the water. John didn’t say anything. His telescope. Completely gone. Midas came rushing towards them followed by a bunch of town people, all but the astrologers in their pyjama’s. ‘What happened? Are you alright?’ Midas asked, but his eyes quickly trailed to the top of the observatory where the source of all this light had to be. ‘We were blown off the tower after we heard some shriek,’ Harald stated. He shook the water out of his boots. ‘After that the giant light bulb appeared.’ ‘How did you not see this coming?!’ a fellow astrologer yelled. ‘This is a curse. You let us get cursed!’ the shepherd screamed alongside his sheep. ‘People, let’s all calm down so we can found a solution. I heard wizard Woemfol is in the area…’ Midas started. ‘It’s not about the solution, Midas. It’s about our best diviner failing his job in the most legendary way possible.’ ‘We have eighty-three diviners in this town and none of you saw it coming, so don’t blame Harald alone.’ ‘Yes, indeed. We can’t blame Harald alone. Don’t forget the astronomer. That light comes from his tower.’ ‘Technically it’s government property as you paid taxes to built it.’ ‘John!’ As the threats start raining down Midas grabbed the two man by the arm and dragged them back inside before they had to face something worse than threats. Out of town low As soon wizard Woemfol was located and brought back to Exup with maybe a little more force than needed, people guessed that soon all would be turn back to normal. A week had passed. A week of living in a continues summer day. Astrologers were way off with their predictions. They needed the most recent position of celestial bodies for accurate divinations, but also the tea and coffee readers stood hopeless while they saw the plants wither in the magical sunlight. What was left were divination methods which weren’t as accurate as the people of Exup and their customers were used to. Woemfol concluded that the light could not be extinguished and that the tower was also magically protected. The idea to move the whole town crossed Midas mind, but now people started glowing like a light bulb when they left the area of the curse. It was mostly inconvenient for the astrologers who still couldn’t see the lights even if they weren’t in Exup, but seeing a glowing red thing in the forest had really scared all evil out of the neighbouring villages. No, they Exupians better stayed. Maybe turn the town in some holiday destination. There was not much that Woemfol could do. The curse could only be lifted by the genie who had casted it, which, on it’s turn, would only be able to if the wisher whished so. Besides the curse Midas feared for the lives of John and Harald. The people still blamed them for the whole curse. Maybe it was better if the two men would stay low for a while. Out of the town low. And while they were away they could figure out a way to solve this mess. Technically, the sun... ‘So if you want to stay stargazers instead of sungazers I advise you to leave for a while,’ Midas finished after he had told John and Harald everything the wizard had been telling him. ‘Technically, the sun…’ ‘John, if you dare to start your sentence with “technically” one more time I swear in name of the king that I will cast the only magic spell I know on you,’ Harald said dead serious. ‘You work magic?’ Both Midas and John said at the same time. ‘My great grandfather was a wizard. I just can do one little, but a very good shutting-up-astronomers spell.’ ‘Oh, really?’ John said while looking at the astrologer who was so much smaller than him. Or John was just tall. It was the later. ‘Now it’s really tempting to use…’ ‘I’m sure you’ll find out, John. Now, for the journey ahead. Any ideas where to start?’ Midas asked. ‘Let’s…just get out of here first and head to the Land of the Bankers. They surely know which genie has casted this curse. But first I would like to say my farewells to my family.’ ‘Of course.’ To be continued This story will continu in chapter 3: Two lunatics. Categorie:The Stargazers Categorie:The Stargazers: hoofdstukken Categorie:Mvs109